Christine Mehring

In her discussion of the emergence of art fairs, Christine Mehring speaks about some unsettling parallels between them and flea markets, or at the most generous, Walmart. When presented with her context of the budding art fair it is startling to see the similarities between Basel and Red Barn. There are differences and those are pointed out as well. The fringe shows are one example. One of the biggest examples are that in art fairs the booths set up by a person do not sell their belongings but another person's belongings. In essence they are selling a piece of a reputation. She explains that the Art Fair sets up the desire to own rather than just view. She finishes by showing the shift in financial motivation from the gallery spaces to the Art Fair.

Roberta Smith 3

In the final article by Roberta Smith, she takes a look at the "Skin Fruit" Exhibition in New Museum. The show was from the private collection of Dakis Joannou, one of it's trustees and curated by Jeff Koons. Yet again the political implications of the show were downplayed in favor of an analysis of the show itself. The idea of a trustee being allowed to play their private collection in the museum is yet another strange leap across a line that has been drawn in the sand for some time. In the new world of gallery owners as museum directors and trustees using museums as places to showcase their own collections, the future of the art market is uncertain.

Roberta Smith 2

the next Roberta Smith article, "A New Boss, and a Jolt of Real-World Expertise" talks about the appointment of Jeffery Deitch as director of MoCA in Los Angeles. As briefly explained in the article people are wary because one of the main trustee's for the MoCA is Eli Broad who's collection is financially tied to Jeffery Deitch. The concern is that by directing the museum Mr. Deitch can effect the value of his own artists and thus the value of Mr. Broad's collection which is primarily composed of artists from the Deitch gallery. It is a slippery slope that can have broad implications on the art market in the years to come.

Roberta Smith

In Who Needs a White Cube These Days, Roberta Smith takes a look at the culture trends of Gallery owners and the moderate outstretches from the standard gallery model. She looks at Mary Boone's use of another gallery owner, the small spaces of the Wrong Galleries and Gavin Brown's Bar. She looks at Michele Maccarone's "retail space" and Emily Sundblad's "living room" gallery. She shows many forms of the same beast and keeps it within the bounds of high class society.

This is another example of a reading that is important for us in that it is relevant to the market we are going to find ourselves in next year (a few years if we are attending grad school.) It is interesting to see the ways that the art market folds out and then folds back in on itself as Dave Hickey alluded to in the previous reading.

Dave Hickey

In the Birth of the Big, Beautiful Art Market, Dave Hickey shows some emotional angst that is not found in the other chapters of Air Guitar. He relates modern art customizing to the car Renaissance of the 50's and 60's. He writes about his excitement over the new customizable art of the 60's and the synergy between the market of art and the art of American commerce. He then goes on to relate how the art market grabbed the tweaking and customizing and enfolded it back into itself. How it succeeded in sucking in all a attempts to break free of it. It became an Oroborus. Perpetuating itself by becoming what was created to destroy it. He talks about art moving to the floor not as a rebellion against the standard but because the standard had left no other place for it. Art had outpaced it's demand.

I think this reading affects how I view the market of art and how the "Art World" functions. My own work is at it's heart more in the direction of public art and is not fully tied to the contemporary art market, but I do intend to do some work that will be placed into this machine and the views in this article are a good reality check for people about to enter this world.

Jack Burgess

In this video Jack Burgess makes an interesting clip on what modern contemporary art is and how to look at it. His main definitions are that it is conceptual, made of all kinds of stuff, and interactive. Although his explanation is thin and simple, it is a good base explanation for the person that has trouble looking at contemporary art. There is no real way to parallel this to my own work as it is a bit too vague but it was a good watch.

Frontline Documentary

In the show, the effects of the internet on modern society is given careful examination. The effects of online activity and social networking on the classroom setting and even everyday life. How teachers are combating lower attention spans and the pressure to "outflash" the allure of the net. They show case studies of the effects of internet use and the hazards of misuse.

This show was very relevant to the times we live in and on a large amount of work being made today. There is much that can be said about, for, against, or in reference to this that directly relates to our modern lives. It is not particularly informative to my own work as I do not deal with this subject, but I do find the conversations that can be derived from it interesting.